Top Five

I’ve long been a fan of Chris Rock, a man whose career has never quite skyrocketed like his talent might suggest it should. His movies, at best, have been curious and at worst have starred Adam Sandler, but he’s never quite reached anything approaching greatness. He’s shown flashes. When I reviewed his last directorial effort, 2007’s odd, off-kilter I Think I Love My Wife, I wrote, “Chris Rock is bound to make a really good movie one of these days. Not necessarily a great film, but an honest, intelligent, funny film that does everything it’s supposed to. He’s just too smart and likable on screen for me to think that this isn’t possible; he just has yet to put it all together.” With his latest, Top Five, I’m not sure he’s quite reached greatness (though the film has grown on me in the short time since I watched it), but he’s gotten damn close. Even with a handful of glaring flaws, this is Rock truly trying to make a film that will last, one that’s intelligent, mature, raunchy, topical, romantic and — above all else — funny.

The style and modus operandi of Top Five owe a lot to Woody Allen. This isn’t too surprising — Think I Love My Wife and Rock’s turn in 2 Days in New York (2012) owe a lot to Allen, though here, Rock’s taken some of Allen’s ideas and peeves and filtered them through his own worldview. Rock plays Andre Allen (perhaps the last name is a dead giveaway), a comedian, actor and recovering alcoholic who’s not only about to marry a reality TV star (Gabrielle Union), but also has a new — and seemingly ridiculous — film on the Haitian slave revolt opening, which he sees as his chance to finally be taken seriously. Like Allen’s Sandy Bates in Stardust Memories (1980), however, the public wants him to return to his “early, funny stuff,” though in the case of Andre, it’s for him to reprise the role of Hammy the Bear, a cop in a bear suit.

To help push his serious film, Andre’s set up with New York Times reporter Chelsea Brown (Rosario Dawson in a great performance), who doesn’t so much want to promote his film as get him to open up about his alcoholism and discuss why he doesn’t make funny movies anymore. The bulk of the film is the two wandering New York as Andre does radio interviews and press junkets, while their contentious relationship  — as they open up to one another — slowly softens. This type of dialogue-heavy comedy works because it allows Rock’s writing and keen eye for social commentary to flourish, but there’s nothing stuffy about the film, especially since Rock’s made a very R-rated comedy that occasionally revels in bad taste (something that I suspect will turn off a lot of people).  He manages to do this while accomplishing something even trickier — drawing a rich celebrity who is sympathetic and can actually be related to. Normally, when movies attempt to draw attention to the high price of fame (think Judd Apatow’s Funny People) they come across as whiny and overwrought — not here, though, where there’s a genuine humanity in the desires and relationships of the film’s characters.

The film does make a handful of missteps, but even when they do happen, Rock makes up for them. The 20 minutes the film wanders around finding its footing is forgivable in the way Rock structures the film, cleverly jumping back and forth and in and out of flashbacks. An overlong, generally unfunny cameo for Adam Sandler and Jerry Seinfeld is more than made up for with an inspired guest spot from DMX. It’s this kind of irreverence and — for Rock, at least — welcome self-indulgent ambition that fuels Top Five and makes it worth seeking out. Rated R for strong sexual content, nudity, crude humor, language throughout and some drug use.